


Wizard Howl, Fur Coarse Like a Towel

by hhertzof



Category: Hairy Maclary and Friends Series - Lynley Dodd, Howl Series - Diana Wynne Jones
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Poetic License, Quarrels, Storms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-12-21 01:29:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11933484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hhertzof/pseuds/hhertzof
Summary: In which Sophie and Howl have a quarrel and he storms off.





	Wizard Howl, Fur Coarse Like a Towel

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DaisyNinjaGirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaisyNinjaGirl/gifts).



Sophie the hatter  
At the top of a ladder  
Had had it with Howl  
And his charm-laden patter  
They quarreled and quibbled  
All through the night  
And neither admitted  
The other was right.  
Dawn broke the next morning  
With the castle a mess  
And who had done what  
Neither one would confess.  
But when Sophie the Hatter  
At the top of the ladder  
Dropped a green scaly lizard  
On Howl the Wizard,  
The wizard named Howl  
Threw in the towel  
And stormed out the door  
As he had done before  
"You slitherer-outer,  
You'll spend the day in fur"  
He tidied his curls,  
Headed out in the world  
But then with a shriek  
"That's the third time this week."  
He was down on all fours  
A critter with paws.  
"She thinks I'll slink back  
But I'll go up the track,  
To Donaldson's Dairy  
And visit Hairy Maclary.  
I'll have plenty of fun  
Romping round in the sun  
With my friends in the town  
She can stay home and frown!"  
So Wizard Howl  
Fur coarse like a towel  
Set off for the dairy  
And Hairy Maclary  
When he got there he found  
Hairy wasn't around  
No Hercules Morse  
As he ran through the gorse  
No Bitzer Maloney  
Under the tree  
No Schnitzel von Krumm  
Or his very low tum  
No Muffin McClay  
Hiding out in the hay  
No Bottomly Potts  
With the preschooler tots.  
Now this was alarming  
Thought Howl the charming  
None of my friends  
Can come out to play  
This is almost  
the very worst day  
And then with a clash  
And a roar and a bash  
A bright flash of lightning  
Which almost was frightening  
The next round of thunder  
Sent Howl scurrying under  
A bench in the park  
From the encroaching dark  
And rain pouring down  
Made Howl frown  
Sophie would pay  
For this very worst day  
For the rain pouring down  
No friends being round  
He was cold, he was wet  
He would never forget  
He remembered a barn  
On Gallaghers' farm  
It was warm, it was dry  
And a good place to hide  
So with a sniff of his nose  
And a twitch of his toes  
He dashed through the wet  
He would never forget  
He squeezed into the barn  
On Gallaghers' farm  
And there were his friends  
All safe in the end  
Hairy Maclary  
Looked a bit wary  
Hercules Morse  
Had made friends with a horse  
Bitzer Maloney  
Had found some baloney  
Schnitzel Von Krumm  
Sprawled on his tum  
Muffin McClay  
Curled up in the hay.  
In this place dry and warm,  
On Gallaghers' farm.  
Sophie could worry,  
Sophie could wait,  
Howl wouldn't hurry,  
Howl would be late.  
The rain on the roof  
Made a pleasant patter,  
And so the day passed  
In cheerful dog chatter.  
It should have been safe there,  
With the friends he had found,  
But then the wind howled  
The scariest sound.  
With a clash and a bash,  
The barn door went slam.  
They found themselves trapped  
In a bit of a jam  
No way to move it  
And no way out.  
Help might be coming  
But that was in doubt.  
They might have ignored it.  
They might have just stayed  
Safe from the storm  
In the comforting hay.  
But thoughts of their families,  
Who must be so scared.  
They had to get home  
And show them they cared.  
So Hairy Maclary,  
from Donaldson's Dairy,  
And Hercules Morse,  
As big as a horse,  
And Bottomly Potts,  
Covered in Spots,  
And Muffin McClay,  
Like a Bundle of Hay,  
And Bitzer Maloney,  
All skinny and boney,  
And Schnitzel Von Krumm,  
With a very low tum  
Attacked the door  
With a crash and a roar.  
Howl stood back.  
He didn't want to go home.  
He wanted to play.  
He wanted to roam.  
Sophie had cursed him,  
No way to reverse  
No way to undo  
This doggie curse.  
He was stuck with four paws  
Instead of two thumbs.  
This wasn't his plan.  
This was no longer fun.  
He sighed as he added  
His weight to the fray.  
A few more good pushes  
And the barn door gave way.  
Then despite the rain  
And the thunder and lightning,  
Despite the dark  
And despite the frightening,  
His friends, they all scattered  
Back home to their beds  
And he was alone  
With the thoughts in his head.  
He nosed the door shut  
(The horse still inside).  
The rain it poured down  
and Howl just sighed.  
It wasn't supposed  
To end in this way.  
The castle was waiting  
Right there by the bay.  
But the castle was warm,  
The castle was dry.  
He had to go back;  
He was done with the lie  
That things were the same  
As they were before her.  
He was tired and wet,  
And covered in fur.  
He'd go slinking home,  
He'd admit he was wrong,  
The castle was his.  
It was where he belonged.  
He was soaked to the skin  
As he wound his way back  
Past houses and hedges  
Down a hidden track.  
Sophie was sitting  
In rain gear and hat.  
Howl didn't know  
How he felt about that.  
Like all her hats,  
This was a wonder.  
He paused to reflect  
Then a clash of thunder  
Sent him scurrying inside  
To Calcifer's fire,.  
Hoping the lecture  
Wouldn't be very dire.  
He shook himself off  
Despite Calcifer's protest,  
Then flopped on the tiles  
In need of a rest.  
Sophie rolled her eyes  
Or so he assumed,  
But she brought him a towel  
And he knew he was doomed.  
She rubbed his fur dry,  
Then undid the spell.  
"I take it," she said  
"That didn't go well."  
Howl took a moment  
To make his reply,  
"I found my friends"  
It wasn't a lie  
"But it's not as much fun  
As a dog, it is true  
So I left my friends there  
And came home to you."  
She gave him a glare  
then added a frown.  
"The friends all are dogs  
And I wasn't in town  
I was off in a barn  
with the rain coming down  
And my friends all went home  
Before anyone drowned.  
Is that enough, Sophie?  
I've told you it all  
I had a really bad day  
I bet you had a ball."  
"She sulked all in silence,  
Then cleaned up the mess,  
That angry cleaning  
She does in distress,"  
Calcifer said.  
before Sophie could speak  
She couldn't deny it  
"I patched up the leaks."  
They glared at each other  
For neither had won  
In the end they were back  
Where they had begun.  
"I'm sorry," they said.  
Both at the same time.  
It was never easy  
But at least they were trying.  
"I'll take you to meet them  
They're a great group of dogs."  
"I think I would like that,"  
As she handed a log  
To Calcifer's blaze.  
"But now you get warm  
There's much still to do  
And it won't take long"  
Howl nodded and settled down  
There by the fire.  
Now that he was warm,  
Their fight seemed less dire   
And perhaps they would make it  
Work out in the end  
If he remembered  
Sometimes to bend.

**Author's Note:**

> I doubt this is what you were expecting but i made the mistake of reading Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy before I started to write and this is what came out.


End file.
